AWAKEN ME: Guide To Veganism

Some major things to recognize are how the dairy industry, egg industry and meat industry work. Surprisingly most people don't realize animals are killed in all these industries, this is why they continue to support them for so long but I'm about to awaken you. All of the things are common practise on 95% of farms and some of these things must happen on all farms in order to function. 

DAIRY INDUSTRY

Normally dairy comes from cows, that should be no surprise to you as you should have learned this long ago. But some people also drink goat, sheep and camel milk. Now if you don't drink goat, sheep or camel milk you may find it odd that others do. Why is that? Perhaps because the dairy industry has brain washed you. Cow milk is no different from any other animals milk (Besides the nutrients). Milk is infact the breast milk of an animal, that is produced to be fed to its young just as your mothers breast milk was fed to you. Which means if you didn't take biology a mammal will only produce milk after giving birth. In order for cows in the dairy industry to produce milk they are artificially inseminated in order to get pregnant. 

So why does a baby need milk... Well if you didn't already know, the answer is simple. For nutrition! A baby's only source of nutrition is breast milk or in some cases formula. The breast milk supplies lots of fat, protein and hormones to help the baby grow as well as other vital nutrients. The mother produces just enough milk to meet the demand of her hungry growing baby. Milk also contains Casomorphins which is natural morphine thats present to keep the baby wanting more milk so they don't starve. Different mammals milks contain different concentrations of Casomorphins, fat, proteins, hormones and nutrients. Keep this in mind for when we talk more about the health aspect of dairy products.

Let's go back to talking of how a mother produces the perfect amount of milk for her baby. You might not have asked yourself this before but if a mother produces the perfect amount of milk for her baby, how is it you can buy milk at a store? Shouldn't the baby have drank all the milk? Why is there extra? Well something the dairy industry has kept very secret is what happens to the babies of the animals that produce the milk. If a female calf is born she will live the same fate as her mother> artificial insemination>give birth>produce milk. If a male is born he will be raised longer for the beef industry or he will be killed days-weeks after birth for the Veal industry. Yes that's right the Veal you see on the meat shelves... That's baby cow. Lots of people are against the veal industry but don't realize by contributing to the milk industry when they buy products, creates veal in the first place. As long as the milk industry is around the veal industry will be because if they didn't kill the male calves they would drink all of the mothers milk as they are suppose to thus the milk industry would make no profit.

Imagine being a mother who has just given birth and has her baby ripped away from her. And although this is in my opinion the worst thing that happens to cows in the dairy industry it's not the only terrible thing they are put through. It's common for cows to have their horns cauterized to prevent them from injuring other cows or humans. A cows horns are there for a reason, so they can protect themselves; and what do we do? We burn or sometimes cut them off without antiseptic. Cows are branded or have a tag clipped on their ear. Males are also Castrated without antiseptic because it is thought to improve meat quality and tenderness. Cows you see today have doubled their milk production since 40 years ago. Because they are making unnaturally high levels of milk it is very common for a cow to develop mastitis, a very common and very painful swelling of glands of the udder.And to force more production cows are repeatedly injected with bovine growth hormone, a genetically-engineered hormone that has been shown to increase the risk of health problems like mastitis. Infections such as mastitis causes an increase in pus (white blood cells> same stuff in a zit= somatic cells) different countries have different regulations on how much pus is aloud in their milk.Now not all cows today are being injected with bovine growth hormone as more people are wanting 'hormone free' meat/eggs/dairy but they are forgetting that an animal has natural hormones as well which does affect our health. On some dairy farms farmers cut off cows tails, a practice called tail docking. This causes chronic pain and cows use their tail to swish away flies and can suffer immensely during fly season. Worst of all the living conditions cause cows to die at 4-6 years of age instead of their 20 in the wild. These cows are considered downers and are poked, prodded, dragged or pushed to slaughter. Often their meat is not safe for human consumption because of disease so it is commonly used to make pet food. Many downers when brought to slaughter still have a baby fetus/cow inside of them, and believe it or not they actually have uses for baby cow/fetuses such as bovine fetal serum.

To prevent disease while the cows are still alive cows are given antibiotics, often the antibiotics can be found in their urine and manure which can cause runoff. Contaminating bodies of water, crops and in the process humans if they eat the crops. When a lagoon full of manure gets full farms spread it on their crops (natural fertilizer) this can contaminate water or release gases into the atmosphere. Run offs are the major cause of ocean dead zones. We currently have 500+ nitrogen dead zones world wide. Cows are ruminants which means they emit methane.Cows produce 150 billion gallons of methane per day. Methane is 25-100 times more destructive than CO2 on a 20 year time frame. Methane has a global warming potential 86 times that of CO2 on a 20 year time frame. Livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, or 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. Livestock is responsible for 65% of all human-related emissions of nitrous oxide – a greenhouse gas with 296 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, and which stays in the atmosphere for 150 years. Cows are fed an unnatural diet far from grass often times. Because of this they lack certain nutrients and are injected with vitamins so the farmer can say their milk/meat contains the nutrients. This is common with vitamin B12 which is naturally found in the soil, if a cow isn't eating grass (pulling up dirt with the grass when they eat) it's understandable that they would be low in B12, so to make sure a human gets their B12 they inject the cow. This is also why a lot of processed foods are fortified with vitamins and minerals because the government is aware humans don't get enough nutrients from the animal products they eat. 

Remember when I talked of how different mammals milks contain different concentrations of Casomorphins, fat, proteins, hormones and nutrients. Well let's talk about that. Bovine growth hormone contains insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1) this is naturally occurring as breast milk is made to make an animal grow. If a human already has cancer and drinks breastmilk especially from another animal, ones whose hormones are meant to grow the animal bigger than your own baby; it will cause the cancer to grow. IGF-1 and IGF-2 has been found to be associated with estrogen causing more cancers such as breast cancer. Estrogen is a natural hormone found in our own bodies but by drinking cow milk (which contains estrogen) you create an imbalance in our hormones. Because of the estrogen in cows milk it's also been proven to cause "man boobs" Gynecomastia. Dairy is also high in fat and cholesterol, this almost always leads to high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, and diabetes. Everything in milk causes weight gain because that is what milk is suppose to do it's suppose to make you grow and if you are consuming milk from an animal that is suppose to grow to be 2 tons then you might want to reconsider. Humans have no need to continue drinking milk past infancy. Once a child can consume solid foods they do not need milk, they can get all their nutrients from solid food. 75% of the human population is lactose intolerant, many people don't even notice the side effects  as they think it's normal. Side effects include bloating, cramps, pain, grumbling sounds in stomach, diarrhea, gas, nausea and vomiting. We have been taught to believe milk gives us strong bones but the countries with the highest rates of dairy consumption also have the highest rates of osteoporosis. This is because milk and other animal products make our body acidic unlike plants which keep our body alkaline. To neutralize the acidity our body leaches calcium from our bones which leads to osteorporosis.

Still got milk?

EGG INDUSTRY

Eggs, the side or main component of your breastfast... Most people don't even consider what an egg really is. A chicken has a menstruation just like us females, we both release the egg from our body at this time so essentially an egg is a chickens period. Chickens however lay their eggs and excrete their waste from the same spot called the Cloaca which means eggs come in contact with feces and urine. An eggs is normally not fertilized meaning there is no fetus inside but some cultures do eat eggs with such. If there is no baby inside why do vegans care? Well focusing on the ethical side of things and not the health of environment. The female chicken that was bred to make the eggs and probably had all her brothers ground alive, suffocated or gassed. In the egg industry to breed more egg laying hens they can't control the gender. Males are useless to the egg industry so less then 72hrs after hatching the males are ground alive in a macerator, suffocated in a bag or gassed with CO2. Aside from the males being killed the females are debeaked by using a hot blade. The beak is filled with nerves like any part of an animal farmers cut off, this can lead to chronic pain. This is done to prevent birds from pecking at other birds, but this wouldn't happen in the first place if there were not under such stressful situations. 95% of egg laying hens spend their lives in battery cages because of this the end up with severe feather loss, disease and sores. Chickens today also have been genetically modified to produce more then 300 eggs a year rather than the original 12 when first discovered.

Force molting a nice way of saying starving the birds for 2 weeks is done when egg production declines in order for the bird to increase egg production. Hens should be able to live 5-8 years but egg industry hens live 1-2 years and are sent to slaughter when spent. Chickens and turkeys are exempt from the Humane Slaughter Act so they are fully aware when their throats are slit. But it's common for large amounts of hens to be gassed to death and as undercover investigators have found many are still alive after.

Environmentally 477 gallons of water are required to produce 1lb. of eggs. 5% of water consumed in the US is by private homes. 55% of water consumed in the US is for animal agriculture. Taking a shorter shower will not save water on the grand scale that cutting animal products out of your diet would. 

Health wise eggs are your worst enemy. The egg industry it's self is not allowed to say eggs are healthy, nutritious or safe because this is false and misleading advertising. People not getting paid by the egg industry such as some you tubers or bloggers are allowed to say these kinds of things, but go watch some egg commercials you won't hear those 3 words. You might hear nutritionally dense, full of protein or the perfect start to any morning but thank goodness it's illegal for them to spread anymore lies.  Eggs are very high in cholesterol which causes plaque build up on the walls of arteries increasing blood pressure until BOOM there's a heart attack or stroke. The first sign in males of heart problems is actually Erectile Disfunction because the smallest arteries are in the penis; they are about half the size of hearts Arteries therefore tend to get clogged first.  If you get treatment for ED you are 2x as likely to get treated for heart problems later+ if you are over 50 you are 50x as likely to die of a heart attack.

Blood cholesterol (serum cholesterol) increases when dietary cholesterol is added (only animal products contain dietary cholesterol).  Some people argue this with studies... That just so happen to be funded by the egg industry. So how is this possible? The egg industry knows how to trick you. If you didn't know already serum cholesterol can only go so high, our body can only have so much. So knowing this the egg industry designs studies using people who already have high serum cholesterol levels. When fed diets high in cholesterol their serum cholesterol cannot go any higher therefore they conclude dietary cholesterol does not increase serum cholesterol. Studies can also be manipulated by calculating serum cholesterol hours after eating "fasting cholesterol" when the dietary cholesterol has lowered, this is also when heart attacks are least likely to happen.

MEAT INDUSTRY

Many people forget that meat came from a living animal, it's like they can name the animal the meat came from but they ignore the middle step where the animal is killed. Most people can't kill their own meat, heck most people today can't even hear that their meat was killed. Humans have become so blinded by reality that we just assume meat is another product that just arrived out of no where for our consumption. Parents are particularly responsible for this as when a kid asks where meat comes from the parent just says the type of animal, they rarely go into detail of what happens. We forget that the slab of meat in front of us is another animals muscle.

I'm here to remind you. Many different animals are killed for their meat. Some animals are killed/raised using different methods then others, so I will try my best to explain.

Pigs:
Bacon the worlds favorite breakfast side was a living sentient being. The Docemtary Lucent does an amazing job of showing you the life of a pig before slaughter I highly suggest you watch it if you haven't alreadyIf your more of a reader though I'm going to share what happens in words. Sows (female pigs) are inpreginated at just 7 months of age and they continue to have babies+nurse them until they can't no more and then they are sent to slaughter. Females spend most of their pregnancy in gestation crates where they are able to move around a little. Respiratory disease is common as sows lay atop of slates in the floor where their urine and feces go causing high exposure to ammonia. Sows spend much of their time laying down developing sores on the floor as standing is uncomfortable, sows develop weak muscles in their legs by laying down a lot. The intense boredom pigs feel cause them to exhibit weird actions such as chewing with an empty mouth or biting at bars until they bleed. Sows because they give birth so much may also develop rectal prolapse.Before giving birth sows are moved to farrowing crates where they will give birth and nurse their babies.The crate is very small intended so the mother will not crush her babies however this is often not the case many babies even get feet stuck in the floor and get legs removed. At just a few weeks old piglets undergo multiple mutilations such as tail docking, castration, and teeth cutting.Piglets are weaned off of their mothers, and the Dow is put back into the gestation crates to be inpreginated again. Piglets are moved to different pens until they reach market weight. Many pigs participate in  Cannibalism, eating body parts that pole out from other pigs. This normally only occurs when pigs are in stressful environments.

POULTY:

The egg industry actually breds 2 different types of chickens just so they can make more profit. The egg laying hens have been genetically modified to produce 300+ eggs instead of the original 12 when they were first discovered. The meat industry hens have been bred to be bigger and grow faster so they can maximize the amount of meat on their bodies within a short period of time. Either way poultry has been exploited for humans greed. Chickens normally are kept inside a long warehouse like building, there is on average 20,000 in each.Each chicken has letter size paper amount of space, not very much wing room. This environment causes a lot of sores and injury from the close proximity to each other. What about free range? That was free range. CFE's allow things to be legal as long as it's commonly practiced, so speaking free range, as long as the birds are not in a cage> it's free range. Many chickens develop respiratory diseases as there is so much chicken feces on the ground that the ammonia levels can be very high. Chickens commonly never see the real sun light they have artificial lights to stimulate growth and appetite. It's not uncommon for chickens to suffer walking problems as their skeletons cannot support the weight on their bodies.Acute heart failure is also common as the chickens heart and lungs cannot supply the demand of oxygenated blood to tissues. Most chickens are slaughtered at 42 days old even though their manipulated bodies are the size of an adult. No laws are in place for how chickens are killed, commonly they are put threw an electrical bath followed by a blade to the throat and if they miss the blade their heads are ripped off by workers. 

BEEF:

I've already discussed how Veal is produced when I talked about dairy products. Beef could have been Veal if killed sooner but it's desired to have more meat so they raise beef 6months-1 year before sending them to slaughter. Bulls have their horns cauterized without antiseptic to prevent them from injuring other cattle or humans. Bulls are branded or have a tag clipped on their ear to identify them.Bulls are also Castrated without antiseptic because it is thought to improve meat quality and tenderness. Sometimes they cut 'it' off or they put an elastic band around it until it dies and falls off.Cattle are moved from pastures to feedlots to fatten them up more before slaughter, they end up weighting more than a ton in just 6 months. The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act requires that livestock be rendered insensible to pain before slaughter but this is not always the case.Slaughterhouse workers and undercover investigations have shown time and time again that not all cattle are insensible, many still alive after getting their throats cut.

SHEEP/GOATS:

Sheep are slaughtered very young around 6-8 months as people prefer Lamb, sheep are also killed when wool production declines. Mulesing is commonly practiced to prevent fecal matter from building up in the wool causing infection from flies laying eggs within the wool. Mulesing involves cutting pieces of skin off of a Lambs/Sheep buttocks.Tail docking is also common just like in the dairy industry where the tails are cut off or elastic bands are tightly put around the tail till it dies and falls off.Goats are killed at 3-5 months old or when milk production declines.

FISH:

It's really mind boggling to me how many people don't think fish is a meat or that they don't feel pain. Many 'vegetarians' claim they eat fish, pescetarian is the proper term if this is the case. A fish most certainly feels pain, they have a nervous system.The only reason most people eat fish is they claim this is the only place to get Omega 3 and 6. This is of course not the case, your fatty acids can be found in: flax seeds, walnuts, canola, soybeans, and the list goes on.When most people hear fish is unhealthy they assume it's just the Mercury level but there is more than that. Just by eating fish once a week your risk of diabetes increases by 5%.Many people think fish oil is good for the heart but the fishing industry likes to focus on the good news not the bad. Fish is still high in cholesterol and fat as it is an animal product.Mercury is still a big concern and it's not a risk you should take when there is plant based options.Now a major problem with eating seafood is the health of our oceans & our planet. Our ocean and our earth is in big trouble right now, people eating fish are so unaware of this. Seaspiracy is a great short film explaining this its available on YouTube. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

I didn't show you these images to scare you, i showed you these images so you could visualize the reality of life for these animals every day. If you had to look away from these images ask yourself why? Why is this good enough for my mouth but not my eye's? If these images made you sad, angry or shocked thats good. Thats how you should feel, most humans are compassionate and wouldn't want to hurt anybody, so why do you? your not doing the killing yourself but your paying others to do it for you. You don't need animal products to survive, you don't need to pay for this to happen if you don't like it, just choose vegan and align your heart with your actions. Don't be worried about deficiencies on a vegan diet, if eating this way were not safe and healthy veganism wouldn't exist because then we would be carnivores/ omnivores and eating animal products would be apart of survival, we wouldn't care about animals dying for our food. We are not omnivores, here's why (click on image):

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

HEALTH

Most people seem to overlook the fact the animal they are eating got all its nutrients from plants and they are just eating the filtered nutrients from the animals tissues or secretions. Any nutrient an animals has, a plant has besides LDL cholesterol which you want to avoid anyway if you don't want a heart attack, high blood pressure or stroke.One of the best resources online is nutritionfacts.org, a science based website which is public service provided by Dr. Michael Greger. NutritionFacts.org was launched with seed money and support by the Jesse & Julie Rasch Foundation. Incorporated as a 501c3 nonprofit charity, NutritionFacts.org now relies on individual donors to keep the site alive. Nutritionfacts.org is unquie in this way because most doctors get funding from the meat/ egg or dairy industries which alter their reliability but you can rest assured there is no tomatato industry or watermellon industry and they dont fund vegan doctors to do studies. Dr. Greger also has written a book called "How Not to Die" talking about the top 14 killers and how they can be reversed and prevented on a plant based (Vegan) diet. Dr. Greger also has a video on youtube where he gave a speech at the healthy lifestyle expo held every year in California. Too see the video click on the picture of Dr.Greger speaking, to buy his book click on the picture of the book.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

PROTEIN:

Protein, carbs and fat are in every whole food we eat. Just because a banana is known as a carb doesn't mean it doesn't have fat or protein in it. Foods are labeled carb, fat, protein based on the highest macro. For instance let's look at the banana closer:
1 banana 7"-7/8" long
Protein: 1.29g
Fat: 0.39g
Carb: 23.9g

A banana does have protein and fat even though it has more carbs. Now you might be thinking... Buts it's only 1.29g of protein I need like 50g a day. Well you could eat 36+ bananas like Freelee the banana girl or you could eat a variety of other plant foods that contain diffrent ratios of carbohydrates, lipids, and amino acids. To get enough protein you just need to eat enough 2500+ calories. It's impossible to be low in protein if you are eating enough calories from whole foods (or at least less processed foods like pasta). Pasta, rice, beans and potatoes are some of the easiest foods to get protein from because they have more then other fruits and veggies. If your concerned about complete protein don't worry, when your eating a wide variety of plants everyday you will get all the amino acids you need.Your body needs amino acids to build muscle. When you eat meat/dairy your body must break down the complete protein into amino acids before it can build muscle. Where as with plants your body dosen't need to break anything down, your protein is already in the form of amino acids.  There is also vegan protein powders if more protein is desired for bodybuilding.

Still worried about protein? perhaps checking out some vegan body builders will help ease your mind, click on image to be directed to their pages.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Worried about other vitamins and minerals? Don't be its the same as protein, as long as your eating enough calories you will get everything. The only 2 vitamins anyone should every be concerned about is viatmin D and vitamin B12, this goes for vegans and meat eaters. Today in our society we don't go outside much and fail to get enough vitamin D. We also as a society have cleaned dirt off our foods so much B12 has no chance of survival. B12 is actually made by a bacteria, we make our own in our gut but it's too far down for our bodies to absorb, so we must consume B12. B12 is excreted out of us or other animals and therefore in the soil, so to get B12 way back when, we would just eat our produce with a bit of dirt maybe left on it. But now we must eat fortified foods to get it because our society is too clean. The only reason animal products contain B12 is because cows when grazing will pull up some dirt with their grass, and some farmers even inject their animals with B12 shots so they can say their meat has high B12. As long as you are eating fortified B12 foods you will not get deficient (nutritional yeast, mock meats, cheeses, milks, etc.) and if you would like you don't even need to eat fortified foods you can get a shot from the doctor. Here are some videos further explaining B12 (Click to view):

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Only 2% of the population is vegan and I don't see vegans filling up the hospitals. I see people eating the wrong diet their body was designed to eat. I see people eating cholesterol filled foods and going to the ER because they are having chest pains. I see people getting high blood pressure and blaming it on stress not the plaque filling their arteries. I see people getting diagnosed with diabetes and they blame it on the sugar instead of the fat in their blood stream. I see people getting sicker and sicker and instead of finding the cause of their problem and doing something about it I see the pharmaceutical industry booming as they give medication to hide the symptoms. You don't need to worry about deficiencies if you didn't before going vegan. Many omnivores are deficient in vitamins/minerals, how do you think the supplement industry got so popular besides telling people they need more protein then what they really do. Vegans tend to have less deficiencies because plant based foods offer all the nutrition a human needs. Check out nutritionfacts.org to learn more- let the doctor do the talking not me.